Australia — Senator Feeney affirms strong defence relationship with PNG

Par­lia­men­tary Sec­re­tary for Defence Sen­a­tor the Hon. David Feeney will trav­el to Papua New Guinea (PNG) with Deputy Sec­re­tary Strat­e­gy Peter Jen­nings to review progress being made under Australia’s Defence Coop­er­a­tion Pro­gram with PNG (21–24 July).

The PNG Defence Coop­er­a­tion Pro­gram (DCP) is Australia’s largest DCP com­mit­ment, with a bud­get allo­ca­tion of $10.5 mil­lion this finan­cial year. Under the Defence Coop­er­a­tion Pro­gram, Aus­tralia helps build the capa­bil­i­ty of PNG’s Defence Force in a num­ber of areas, includ­ing mar­itime and bor­der secu­ri­ty, as well as con­duct­ing train­ing, exer­cis­es and infra­struc­ture development. 

“The breadth of the DCP shows the impor­tance of Australia’s Defence rela­tion­ship with PNG” Sen­a­tor Feeney said. 

“We have shared a long and close rela­tion­ship and I will take the oppor­tu­ni­ty through­out my vis­it to reit­er­ate Australia’s com­mit­ment to help­ing fur­ther devel­op a pro­fes­sion­al and sus­tain­able PNG Defence Force (PNGDF).

“I’m look­ing for­ward to meet­ing with the PNG Min­is­ter for Defence, the Hon Bob Dadae MP, and Com­man­der of the PNGDF, Brigadier Gen­er­al Fran­cis Agwi, and seek­ing their views on fur­ther devel­op­ing the PNGDF. Aus­tralia is also assist­ing PNG devel­op its capac­i­ty to con­tribute to inter­na­tion­al peace­keep­ing operations. 

“I will also be meet­ing with senior offi­cials in the PNG Gov­ern­ment to dis­cuss our long-stand­ing bilat­er­al rela­tion­ship and ways that we may strength­en those ties.” 

Sen­a­tor Feeney will also rep­re­sent the Min­ster for Vet­er­ans’ Affairs, the Hon War­ren Snow­don MP, at a pre­sen­ta­tion cer­e­mo­ny to hon­our the Papuan and New Guinean civil­ians who pro­vid­ed sup­port to Aus­tralia dur­ing World War Two. 

Sen­a­tor Feeney will present com­mem­o­ra­tive medal­lions to 13 of the “Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels” who cared for and assist­ed Aus­tralian Ser­vice men and women dur­ing WWII. 

“Many Aus­tralians owe their lives to these civil­ians who came to be affec­tion­ate­ly known as “Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels”. I’m proud to be pay­ing trib­ute to them on Sun­day.” Sen­a­tor Feeney said. 

Sen­a­tor Feeney will also attend a Remem­brance Day Memo­r­i­al Ser­vice on Saturday. 

Media Con­tact :         Patri­cia Schluter 0400 636 715 

Press release
Min­is­te­r­i­al Sup­port and Pub­lic Affairs,
Depart­ment of Defence,
Can­ber­ra, Australia 

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